to 1066. At the end he announces his intention of continuing his work, but no continuation is known to exist. The 'Speculum' contains several Westminster charters and a great many legends. It is of no independent value, and even as a compilation is executed with great carelessness. It has been edited by Mr. J. E. B. Mayor for the Rolls Series. To Cirencester have also been attributed two works, now lost, a treatise 'De Officiis,' and 'Super Symbolum majus et minus,' said to have been in the library of Peterborough Cathedral. On Richard of Cirencester Charles Bertram in 1747 fathered his famous forgery entitled 'Ricardus Corinensis de situ Britanniæ' [see Bertram, Charles].
[Richard of Cirencester's Speculum Historiale, i. 1-4. ii. editor's preface edited by Mayor, Rolls Series; Widmore's History of St. Peter's, Westminster; Bale's Script. Brit. Cat. (Basle). 430.]
CLAGETT, NICHOLAS, the elder (1610?–1663), puritan divine, was born at Canterbury about 1610 (Biog. Brit. ed. Kippis, iii. 592, note A) and in 1628 was entered as a student of Merton College, Oxford, where he proceeded B.A. in October 1681 (Wood, Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 460). Afterwards he migrated to Magdalen Hall, and commenced M.A. in June 1634, being then generally esteemed a very able moderator in philosophy (ib. i. 474). About 1636 he became vicar of Melbourne, Derbyshire, and about 1644 he was chosen lecturer or preacher at St. Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, where he was popular with 'the precise party.' After the Restoration he was ejected from the preachership for nonconformity. He died on 12 Sept. 1663, and was buried in the chancel of St. Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds (Addit. MS. 19165, f. 237).
He wrote: 'The Abuse of God's Grace; discovered in the Kinds, Causes, Punishments, Symptoms, Cures, Differences, Cautions, and other Practical Improvements thereof. Proposed as a seasonable check to the wanton Libertinisme of the present Age,' Oxford, 1659, 4to. Dedicated to his honoured cousin William Clagot, and his dear consort the Lady Southcote.
By his wife Jane, who died at Bury St. Edmunds on 23 Aug. 1673, he had two sons who became eminent divines, viz., Dr. William Clagett [q. v.] and Dr. Nicholas Clagett the younger [q. v.]
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 340; Tymms's Account of St. Mary's Church, Bury St. Eilmunds, pp. 129, 197; Wilkinson's preface to The Abuse of God's Grace; Calamy's Ejected Ministers, p. 646, Continuation, p. 787.]
CLAGETT, NICHOLAS, the younger, D.D. (1654–1727), controversialist, was the son of the Rev. Nicholas Clagett the elder [q. v.], of Bury St. Edmunds. He was baptised 20 May 1654, and was educated at the Norwich free school. In 1671 he was admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge, and took the degrees of B.A. and M.A, in due course. In 1680, upon the removal of his brother to the preachership of Gray's Inn, he was elected preacher of St. Mary's, Bury St. Edmunds, in his room, which office he held for nearly forty-six years. Three years later he was also instituted to the rectory of Thurlow Parva in Norfolk, and in 1693 Dr. John Moore, then bishop of Norwich, who was well acquainted with his abilities and virtues, collated him to the archdeaconry of Sudbury. In 1704 he graduated D.D., and in 1707 he was instituted to the rectory of Hitcham in Suffolk. He died in January 1727, and was buried in the chancel of the parish church in which he had been so long preacher. He is reported to have been a good preacher, and a charitable and blameless man. He had several children, among them being Nicholas, bishop of Exeter [q. v.] His chief works are: 1. 'A Persuasive to Peaceableness and Obedience,' 1683. 2. 'A Persuasive to an Ingenuous Trial of Opinions in Religion,' 1085. 3. 'Christian Simplicity,' 1705. 4. 'Truth defended and Boldness in Error rebuked; or a Vindication of those Christian Commentators who have expounded some Prophecies of the Messias not to be meant only of him,' &c., 1710 (against Whiston's 'Accomplishment of Scripture Prophecies'). He published in 1689-93 a collection of sermons by his brother William [q. v.]
[Biog. Brit, (article communicated by Clagett's son, the bishop).]
CLAGETT, NICHOLAS (d. 1746), bishop of Exeter, was son of Nicholas Clagett the younger [q. v.], minister at Bury St. Edmunds, and nephew of William Clagett [q. v.] All the family were more or less connected with Bury St. Edmunds, where the bishop was probably born, but no record of his birth or baptism can now be found. He was doubtless educated at the grammar school in his native town, and proceeded thence to Cambridge, but again no particulars remain. He took the degree of D.D., and was appointed archdeacon of Buckingham on 1 Sept. 1722, succeeding on the death of Samuel Pratt. After this he became dean of Rochester, 8 Feb. 1723-4, and was elected bishop of St. David's, pursuant to the congé d'élire issued on 17 Dec. 1731. He was consecrated on 23 Jan. 1731-2, being allowed to hold in commendam the rectories of Sho--
